Engaged
by Emerald Penguin
Summary: The girl's plan to set Kelly and Flash up takes an unexpected turn when his life beyond St. Trinian's is dragged into the open; forced to keep up the charade they must attend events as a real couple, but how long will it be before pretend becomes reality?
1. Chapter 1

"Flash, a word."

Flash stopped halfway to his most recently acquired car and turning, saw the schools overbearing headmistress beckoning him through an open window.

"Small problem," she called.

"What's up, Miss Fritton?" asked Flash, walking over.

"It seems that when you try to pay a bank half a million in full, they start asking questions and frankly, I don't think they'd like the answer," explained Camilla with a throaty chuckle, "anyway, long story short, I told them we had an investor."

"Oh I'm with ya Milla," grinned Flash.

Camilla smiled back, "I knew we could count on you Flash. Now dress smartly and be at the hockey game tomorrow."

"Will do Milla. Will do," Flash smiled broadly, and winking, he strode away whistling. He never passed up an opportunity to see Kelly in her gym kit.

As soon as he was out of sight, Camilla turned to a small camera concealed in the window frame.

"He's in," she said, giving the camera a wink and two thumbs up.

Across the school, several floors up, Polly turned from her laptop to the girls behind her.

"He's in," she repeated.

*

Two Days Ago

"Come on guys! Are you in or not?" Annabelle asked the girls.

The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances.

"Well it's a good idea Belle, and Flash would certainly thank us for it," began Polly slowly.

"But Kelly'll kill us if she finds out what we're up to!" finished Taylor bluntly.

Annabelle groaned, she had known that it would be hard to convince the others but she had thought they would at least listen.

"Come on! Kelly does everything for us, but this is the one thing she'll never do for herself. So we have to," looking around at the others she willed someone to agree with her. Yet all the girls, including Andrea and Taylor, remained silent. Annabelle was disappointed. As Kelly's best friends, she had expected Taylor's and Rea's support at least. Just as she was about to give up she received support from the most unexpected source.

"I agree with Annabelle," Celia slowly stood up, "We should do this for Kelly."

"Yeah!" yelled the twins, jumping up and high-fiving each other. Slowly, the older girls began to nod and smile, enthusiasm for a new scheme growing.

"Ok girls. Let's get cracking," said Polly clapping her hands and booting up her laptop.

*

The girls stood about the hockey pitch wearing their various customised versions of the school P.E. kit.

"Taylor, he's here," Annabelle nudged Taylor and gestured to where Flash was greeting Miss Fritton. Taylor nodded back and wandered over to Kelly.

"Hey Kell, what's Flash doing 'ere?" she asked casually.

"He's pretending to the school's new investor, to cover where we got the money from," explained Kelly without looking over.

Taylor resisted the urge to roll her eyes; Kelly was beyond stubborn.

"Yeah, but what I meant was," continued Taylor, beckoning Annabelle over, "what's he doing here looking like _that_?"

Kelly looked up and couldn't stop an audible gasp. The spiv's usual rough and tumble appearance had been transformed into one of a confident and successful business man. He was cleanly shaven apart from his moustache and his hair was neat bellow his favourite hat. His dashing appearance was amplified as he came to stand next to the bank representative, who shook his hand enthusiastically. The bank man's suit seemed to be more starch than material and almost appeared to be trying to escape from its wearer. Flash, on the other hand, could have been born in his suit judging by the ease with which he wore it. The black trousers and jacket were tailored and practically screamed wealth and influence. He wore no tie and the top few buttons of his shirt remained undone, making him look (although Kelly would never admit it) so sexy it should have been illegal.

Annabell and Taylor exchanged a subtle high-five behind Kelly's back as she unconsciously ran a hand through her hair and straightened her top.

"Well Mr. Bank-Manager," said Miss Fritton smugly, "this is our new investor, Mr. Harry Hacket."

The bank man tittered nervously, hurrying forward to shake Harry's hand, "It's so good to meet you Sir, Mr. Kyle Brittmore at your service."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at the slimy man; there was nothing that annoyed him more than people who sucked up to his family because of their reputation. He shared an amused glance with Camilla before replying, "So you're the man who didn't think that I existed."

Brittmore let out a loud nervous laugh before hurriedly assuring him that this wasn't the case, "It's just that we found it hard to believe that an upstanding gentleman such as yourself would want to associate relations with an institution like this!" He finished with a self important sniff.

Camilla's temper flared up – nothing upset her more than people slighting her school and her girls – luckily she remained calm enough to remain in control enough to remember the plan. "I would be careful what you say to Mr. Hacket. It is his fiancées school, after all."

"It is?" squeaked Brittmore, turning pale as his dreams of social and financial elevation through knowing Harry Hacket crumbled.

"It it?" mouthed Flash from behind Brittmore, his eyebrows raised.

"It is!" declared Camilla, "Harry here has been engaged to our Head Girl, Kelly Jones, for about a month."

"He has?" exclaimed Brittmore, his jaw dropping as he look scornfully over at the so called 'Head Girl' with her short shorts, low cut top and bright lipstick.

"I have?" mouthed Harry, his jaw dropping further.

"He has," said Camilla firmly, "would you like to meet her?"

At this point, Andrea, who had been listening in on the conversation, hurried over to Kelly and the others, to complete her part in the plan.

"Hey Rea," smiled Annabelle as the emo approached, "what are they talking about over there?"

Andrea and Taylor were impressed; Annabelle seemed genuinely curious despite having told her aunt what to say nearly word for word.

Andrea smiled devilishly, "You won't believe this, to cover why Flash, sorry, Mr. Harry Hacket, has given us so much money, Miss F just told the bank bloke that he and Kelly are engaged!"

"No!" gasped Taylor, laughing, "no wonder Flash looked like Christmas had come early a moment ago!"

This last comment caused Kelly to blush and she quickly turned away to hide it. As she turned she noticed Miss Fritton beckoning her over. Ignoring the laughter of the girls behind her, she casually strolled over.

As she approached she saw Miss Fritton whisper something to Flash and Kelly quickly shot him a smile and a wink, to let him know that she knew what was going on.

"Act engaged!" Camilla hissed into Flash's ear as Kelly walked over.

Turning towards Kelly he almost sighed in relief as he saw he smile and wink; at least she knew what Miss Fritton had been saying so he wouldn't get clobbered for 'acting engaged'.

"Hello Harry," said Kelly warmly, stretching up and planting a kiss on his cheek, leaving a smudge of red lipstick.

"Hello Kell," he replied, smiling lazily down at her as he draped an arm around her shoulder, simply because he could.

"Miss Jones," cried Brittmore, with fake enthusiasm, still hoping to win Harry's favour, "it is a pleasure to meet the lucky lady who has managed to ensnare the most elusive man in society today."

Kelly forced a smile as he kissed her hand while she tried not to gag, there was something about the man that gave her the creeps.

"That is where you are wrong," returned Flash,, taking Kelly's left hand in his right, "it is I who am the lucky one."

Feeling something small and cool pressed into her hand, Kelly glanced down and her eyes grew wide as she saw the ring that Flash had placed there.

"Of course," Brittmore continued, "the Hacket ring in quite legendary, if it's OK I would love to see it."

Flash nodded as Kelly slipped the ring onto the correct finger before offering her left hand.

"Incredible," breathed Brittmore and Kelly was inclined to agree with him.

The gold band twisted several times around Kelly's finger before spiralling upwards to clasp a large diamond. Carved into the gold bellow and magnified by the stone was the Hacket coat of arms. It must have been hundreds of years old and was truly beautiful.

"You know," Flash spoke conversationally but his eyes were fixed on Kelly, "it is said that the ring will only fit the person who is next destined to wear it, and no other will be able to fit it on."

Kelly tore her eyes away from the ring to stare up at Flash. _You know_, spoke a tiny voice in her head, _now would be the perfect time to kiss him, you are supposed to be engaged after all and no one would question it. You may not get another opportunity, after Brittmore leaves you stop being a couple, then you won't be able to kiss him. _

Kelly stretched up on her toes, fully prepared to act on what the little voice in her head had said. There was something in Flash's eyes that told her he wouldn't mind. Flash leaned down towards her and Kelly eyes fluttered shut, all she had to do was reach up that little bit further...

"ALL PLAYERS TO THE PITCH!" Bursar's voice crackled through the megaphone, causing everyone to jump and turn towards him.

Kelly dropped her head onto Flash's shoulder in annoyance, before quickly kissing his cheek for Brittmore's benefit (or so she told herself) and headed towards the pitch. They could hardly start the game without the captain after all.

"Hey Kelly," whispered Taylor, "did I just see you and Flash nearly kiss?"

"Focus on the game, Taylor," replied Kelly, deliberately ignoring the question.

The game progressed rapidly, the other team didn't know what had hit them and quickly found themselves down on points and players as several were carted off for medical attention.

By half time, under half of the other team was fit to play, causing their headmistress to forfeit the match and begrudgingly pay Miss Fritton the money she had wagered.

"Go and see Flash!" hissed Annabell as she hugged Kelly in celebration, "You're supposed to be engaged!"

Jubilant with success, Kelly ran over to Flash, laughing loudly when he picked her up and spun her round in celebration

"Fantastic, Kell!" he exclaimed, still not putting her down, "that big lass on the other team was a right psycho though!"

Kelly laughed again but had to agree, there had been one player on the opposite team who had quickly labelled as a complete nutter and so naturally the girls of St. Trinian's had gone out of their was to aggravate her; aiming for her more than they aimed for the goal. Loud cheering broke put every time someone hit her and Kelly noticed that the twins were awarding points for head and body shots.

"Yes, congratulations, Miss Jones," the couple both turned to see a rather pale Mr. Brittmore, who had evidently been rather shaken by the levels of violent during the game.

Flash put Kelly down and turned his attention back to Brittmore, seemly as uncomfortable in the man's presence as Kelly was.

"Now Kylie," cried Miss Fritton, thumping him on the back and nearly knocking the man over, "you said you had something to ask us."

"Yes!" he cried triumphantly, "Well as you may know, my bank holds its annual celebrations next week, it's week long event including the business man's ball which is the highlight of the social calendar. It's a highly prestigious event with many big names in attendance as well as representatives and the owner's of every major company. It's both an amazing social event as well as an excellent opportunity for business deals and relations to be established. Mr. Hacket, I'm aware that you often send representatives but that you never come yourself. Well I was wondering if yourself, your delightful fiancée and Miss Fritton here would like to attend?"

"No," stated Flash bluntly, in a tone Kelly had never heard him use before.

Brittmore was unperturbed, "It would be an excellent opportunity for you introduce Miss Jones to society."

"Well I think it sounds like jolly good fun!" exclaimed Camilla, making Brittmore wince, he had obviously only invited her to be polite.

"What do you say?" he asked, this time directing his question to Flash and Kelly.

_If we go to this event, we would have to keep up the pretence of being a couple. For an entire week, including a ball. And what's going on with Flash? Who is this Mr. Harry Hacket? Is that Flash's real surname? If so why does everyone know him? Come to think of it I think I've heard that name before and this celebration would be the perfect place to find out more. Plus I'd have to act like his fiancée for four whole days..._

"We'd love to come!" stated Kelly, a slow smile spreading across her lip.

"Kelly..." she heard Flash murmur behind her, for some reason he really didn't want to go.

Turning around Kelly wrapped her arms around Flash's neck, then leant in to whisper in his ear, so that her lip ghosted against his ear lobe, "Please Flash, for me?"

He grumbled hesitantly so she added huskily, "Don't you want to spend time with me?"

"It would be impossible to find accommodation this late," he protested weakly, but Kelly could tell his resolve had already vanished, he never said 'no' to her.

"I would be happy to take care of all arrangement for you," supplied Brittmore, ecstatic that Harry was coming at all.

"See," said Kelly smiling slowly up at Harry, "everything is being taken care of."


	2. Chapter 2

"Polly!" called Kelly as she walked into the dormitory, "I want a full profile on one Harry Hacket."

"Oh dear," mumbled Polly, "You found out!"

"Found out what?" demanded Kelly. W_hat does everyone know that I don't?_

"I'm really sorry Kell!" Polly babbled, "I found out completely by accident. It was in second year and I was looking for black mail material on the staff. When Miss Fritton found out that I knew, she make me swear not to tell!

"So you won't tell me?" asked Kelly, her voice dangerously low.

Polly squeaked slightly, afraid of the Head Girl's rage, but shook her head all the same.

Luckily for her, Annabelle spotted Kelly looking like she was about to rip Polly's head off and hurried over.

"What's wrong Kel?" she asked.

"No one will tell me WHO THE HELL HARRY FRIGGING HACKET IS!!!" Kelly yelled, hating that she was being kept in the dark.

"Hacket?" asked Chelsea, looking up from painting her nails, "Did you say Hacket?"

Kelly nodded wearily, not really in the mood for one of Chelsea's blonde moments.

"As in William Hacket?" The blonde asked again.

"No, Harry Hacket... But who's William Hacket?" Kelly asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well, I don't know about Harry, but Lord William Hacket is an entrepreneur." She said smugly, happy that she knew something no one else did for once.

"Lord?" asked Annabelle, who had heard Andrea refer to Flash as Harry Hacket earlier, and had worked out what Kelly was talking about. "Do you think they're related?"

"Google 'Hacket coat of arms'," ordered Kelly and the look that she gave Polly quickly prompted the Geek not to refuse.

"Here," said Polly turning the laptop round.

Kelly gasped. On the screen there were several pictures of a coat of arms. She raised her left hand, which still bore the ring, and held it next to the screen so that the others could see what she had noticed.

Annabelle's jaw dropped open while behind them Chelsea whispered, "Oh my God."

They were defiantly the same.

"So Flash, our Flash," said Annabelle slowly, as if she still didn't quite believe it, "is a Lord?"

"Not yet." replied Polly, happy to impart information now that they had worked out the secret for themselves. "Titles are hereditary, and he'll receive it when his father dies."

Chelsea nodded. "But that's not why the Hackets are so well known. They have the Midas touch. Any business they get involved with instantly becomes a huge success."

"So that's why they wanted him at the party," murmured Kelly.

"Party?" asked Polly. "The Hackets never go to social gatherings, since their lucky touch became famous since, well, let's just say that business owners get a little over excited to see them."

_No wonder Flash hadn't wanted to go, oops......_

_*_

"What are you up to, Milla?" asked Flash as he slumped into a chair in her office. "Why did you give my name, and spout all that stuff about being engaged. Now I have to go to the bloody party and get mobbed by a load of over enthusiastic, superstitious, idiots."

"Don't worry, Harry," said Camilla with a chuckle. "I'm sure Kelly will protect you."

Flash blushed at this but maintained his annoyance, "That's another thing, she'll find out who I really am now."

"Oh?"

"Well come on, she's not stupid; all she has to do is type my surname into Google and up'll pop the coat of arms," he grumbled.

"And how," Camilla asked mockingly, "is Kelly going to recognise your family's coat of arms?"

"She'sstillwearingthering"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Amusement crept into the head teacher's voice as she spoke.

Flash huffed before repeating, "She's still wearing the ring."

Camilla smiled down at Flash in a motherly fashion. "Oh Harry, you like seeing her wearing it, don't you? Perhaps you wanted her to find out who you really are? Haven't you been trying to work up the courage to tell her for a while now?"

Harry buried his head in his hands and nodded, embarrassed. "Oh God, I'm such an idiot!" he groaned.

"No you're not, Harry. You're in love." she said patting his head.

"There's a difference. Not a very big one, but a difference."

"I am an idiot," he told her, looking up. "If I weren't then I would have fallen for someone who actually liked me back."

Camilla only hummed to herself at this last remark, choosing not to answer. "Sherry?" she offered, and Flash grinned for the first time since the hockey match.

*

"I can't believe that Flash is from the old money," whispered Annabelle. Most of the other girls had long since gone to bed but Kelly and Annabelle remained awake.

"Yeah," mumbled Kelly.

"All this time I just thought he was a small scale spiv," Annabelle added.

"Yeah," mumbled Kelly.

"And that tight-rope walking elephant sure was something," Annabelle continued, smirking slightly,

"Yeah," mumbled Kelly.

Annabelle looked at Kelly, concerned. She had been awfully quiet since the news about Flash had come out and it was pretty clear that she was completely lost in her thoughts. Whether they were good or bad thoughts,

Annabelle was worried about her.

"Kelly, are you OK?" she asked, softly.

"I just can't believe..." Kelly sighed. "I can't believe he didn't tell me."

"Oh Kelly!" exclaimed Annabelle, giving her friend a hug. "You really like him, don't you?"

Kelly smiled half-heartedly. "Don't tell anyone," she whispered.

"Good-night, Kell," whispered Annabelle, climbing into her bed.

"Night Bells," Kelly replied, doing the same, although she knew she wouldn't sleep.

"Oh and Kelly?" added Annabelle. "You don't have to worry about me telling anyone. Everyone already knows."

By the time Kelly worked out what Annabelle had meant, the other girl was already asleep, leaving Kelly alone with her thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

Flash Pulled up to the school in his dark blue Masarati Quattro Porto, gone were the slightly battered rides in need of a paint job and new number plates, in truth those had all come from a friend anyway. Now that his secret was out it didn't matter if he used his own car - one of his own cars.

For the next week, he would stop being Flash Harry and go back to being Harry Hacket. This meant that he would wear the clothes and drive the cars that fit the part – a definite peak, but nowhere near as much fun when it came getting dressed in the mornings. Unfortunately, it also meant that everywhere he went there were people who would want to talk to him, shake his hands, relieve him of some money, all in hopes that it would make their businesses take off. What none of them realised was that it wasn't luck that make those companies do so well, the Hackets were just very good at spotting companies that would do well. Still, those business men were more superstitious than sailor and wouldn't listen to reason any time soon; heavens knew his Father had tried to talk some sense into them. It hadn't come to anything. This was precisely why he preferred being Flash Harry, to Harry Hacket. Still, maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time. He had a few friends that might be at the event and of course there was one other thing. Something that made being Harry Hacket infinitely more appealing. Something which trumped every other card in the deck. Because Harry Hacket was engaged to Kelly Jones. He could defiantly put up with the hand shaking for that.

Climbing out of his car he strode up to the school's main door. He had to pick up Kelly and Miss Fritton so they could all go to the opening event, a very long and drawn out meet and greet with several long names to remember and some even longer speeches to listen to (or pretend to listen to at any rate). It was, like the rest of the week, black tie. But a dress code is a rule and addhearing to the rules wasn't something that St. Trinian's girls did. So they could be wearing anything. Harry chuckled at the thought; this could defiantly make the event more amusing. Camilla's wardrobe was a force in its own right.

There were several suit cases pilled in the hallway, next to which stood Miss Fritton in the most vile neon pink dress that Harry had ever seen, she would certainly cause a stir.

"Milla, you look lovely!" he exclaimed, very proud of himself for successfully keeping a straight face.

"Well you scrub up very nicely as well," she said with a smile, "Kelly will just be a moment."

"No, I don't need a moment," Kelly called from the top of the stairs.

Her hair and makeup were there usual pristine state, although her eye makeup was more smoky than usual and she wore a long, black coat, which came down to her knees and hid her outfit from view. All that were visible were a pair black stilettos.

"Alright," said Harry, "let's go."

Miss Fritton came forwards and snapping her fingers two first years hurried forwards to carry her cases. Kelly rolled her eyes and went to get her own but before she could Flash picked up her two suit cases and began to walk to the car. Smiling slightly, Kelly followed; this was going to be an interesting week.

*

They had been driving for a little over an hour and Camilla been asleep for half of that time, her snores echoing from the back seats. Kelly rode shotgun next to Flash and so far conversation had remained on the business side of St. Trinian's.

"So," began Kelly, "I was talking to the girls and they reckon that we need to come up with a story; how we met, when you proposed, that sort of thing."

Kelly was glad that it was fairly dark inside the car as it meant that Flash wouldn't be able to see her blush.

Flash nodded, thinking, "Well Milla told that bloke that we've been engaged for about a month. We can say that we met at St. T's when I came down to meet with her 'n' Bursar, about a possible donation. "

Kelly nodded and they fall back into a strained silence. Kelly desperately wanted to ask him why he had never told her who he really was, why he had kept it from her. But afraid of sounding whiney, she remained silent. Then, as he could hear what she was thinking, Flash spoke up.

"I'm sorry Kelly," he blurted out.

Kelly shook her head, "Don't be, you don't answer to me. There's no reason that you should confide in me."

She had told herself this repeatedly, in an effort to conceal the fact that she was hurt by the revelation that he had been keeping something from her.

"No, no," Flash shook his head, "I wanted to tell you. I meant to tell you. I just didn't know how, I mean how do you bring that up in normal conversation? But I could have, if I'd tried. I am sorry, you deserved to know, but I chickened out. I was worried that if I told you, that you'd treat me differently."

Kelly looked away, hiding the smile that had spread across her lips, "There's just one thing I don't understand," she admitted, "Do you help the school financially?"

"Nope," said Flash, popping the 'p' before shooting Kelly his best rugged smile, "Milla's a stubborn old bird and won't accept a penny. Daft gal. My family has always helped out in a slightly less than legal capacity at St. T's, although I do believe I'm the first to waltz around dressed as a gay German!" He finished with a laugh.

The rest of the journey was spent in a companionable silence, as Flash focused on driving (and watching Kelly out of the corner of his eye) and Kelly was lost in her thoughts as she watched the light of the street lamps catch on the ring's diamond and cast out patterns of light. It wasn't until they were nearly at their destination when Flash roused Camilla and began to speak again.

"Alright ladies, we're nearly there so remember: Don't annoy anyone too important; remember to call me Harry, not Flash and don't pay attention to half of the rubbish that comes out of people mouths: they have no idea what they're talking about so when in doubt nod and smile."

Kelly grinned wickedly, "So how important does someone have to be before they're classified as too important to annoy?"

Camilla chuckled throatily, "Anyone who's related to the Queen, darling. Other than that, we have free rein! But remember, you two, act engaged!"

As they pulled up to the front of the hotel complex, where the event was being held, a small army of valets and bell boys rushed forwards. Harry tossed his keys to one of them, while being assured by another than their cases would be taken up to their rooms for them.

"First we have a very drawn out meet and greet followed by more mingling than you have ever witnessed before," whispered Flash to Kelly as she took his offered arm.

"This is going to be fun!" hummed Camilla, a devious smile dancing about her lips.

*

As they took their seats at one of the many tables arranged around the room, Flash still couldn't tear his eyes away from Kelly. When they had first entered the hotel and she had removed her coat, Flash had felt his jaw drop as he openly stared. She wore a thin, black cotton dress, covered with fine sliver embroidery. It had no sleeves as such but the fabric seemed to meet at her shoulders. It was of a modest length, dropping below her knees and the square neckline barely showed her collar bone. Flash had let out a sigh of relief when she had removed her coat, fearing that he would have to fend off other men all night but this dress, although amazing, wasn't nearly as revealing as he had feared. In fact the dress looked almost ordinary.

"What do you think, Miss?" Kelly asked silkily, glancing at Flash, then turning around slowly as if to Show Camilla her outfit. Flash gulped; he was in so much trouble! The dress had absolutely no back, you couldn't tell from the front but as she turned Flash's eyes bulged slightly_. Ok, I take that back; Kelly does not do ordinary._

Much to Flash's annoyance, it seemed he wasn't the only one who Kelly's dress had captured the attention of. As they walked across the room he placed a protective –or possessive- arm around her, glaring at anyone whose eyes lingered to long. It was going to be a long night.

Kelly smiled to herself, Flash's, no, _Harry's_ reaction to her dress had been better than she had hoped; she would have to thank Chelsea for the loan again. She had to admit, it did help to be wearing such a beautiful dress when surrounded by so many rich people, not that she would ever feel that she was bellow these people, but it was nice to make sure that they didn't think she was either.

"Oh no," Flash suddenly stopped the running commentary which he had been whispering to Kelly on all of the funniest gossip about various guests as they arrived.

"What's wrong?" Kelly asked, following Flash's gaze to see a tall brunette girl who had just arrived. Her hair was piled elaborately on top of her head and her makeup was bright and unflattering. Her dress was obviously expensive but the emerald green colour clashed with her tan, making her look rather unwell.

"That," whispered Flash, ducking behind Kelly so that he was out of sight, "is Amy Collins, gold digger extraordinaire. Her late Father owned several large banks but since he passed away Amy and her mother have been in the habit of spending rather more of it than is wise."

"Let me guess," smirked Kelly, "she's looking to sink her claws into your family's fortune?"

"This isn't funny, Kell!" he hissed, ducking down further, "her and her Mother are seriously scary!"

Kelly looked from the pair of women to Flash, "Don't worry, baby," she whispered, "I'll protect you."

Kelly trailed her lips along his jaw bone, not quite making contact, before coming to stop with a ghost of a kiss on his lips, when a shrill voice made her cringe.

"Harry! Darling! It's been too long!"

Flash groaned inwardly, "Hello Amy," said Flash reluctantly, "How are you?"

"I'm brilliant, Darling!" she declared, eyeing Kelly suspiciously the whole time, "But who is this? I don't believe I know your _little friend_."

"This," answered Flash happily, "Is my fiancée; Kelly Jones."

Kelly rested her left hand on Flash's chest, giving all a clear view of the ring, "It's _so nice_ to meet you," she said innocently but flashing a predatorily smile, "although I'm surprised Harry never mentioned you."

Amy did an impression of a cod fish for a few moments; amazed that anyone dare speak to her like that, before turning her attention away from Kelly and back to Flash.

"Harry, Darling," she said, stressing the pet name, "why don't I get another chair drawn over here, that way we can catch up while Mother chats to all those tedious old business men!"

Flash grimaced at the prospect and was about to negative the idea when Kelly began to speak again, "Oh that really won't be necessary," Flash sighed in relief, "You can have my chair!"

Amy almost laughed in surprise; it seemed this rude girl was not as clever as she thought; she was practically giving Harry to her!

Flash on the other hand blanched, "I'm sure that's not necessary," he exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Kelly waist to hold her where she was.

"It no troubles at all, love. I can sit here," and without further ado Kelly rose from her chair only to seat herself in Flash's lap.

Amy's jaw dropped open as Kelly crossed her legs, sliding the other chair she had just vacated away as she did so.

"It's much more comfortable here anyway," Kelly reflected, before giving Amy a mocking smile, "Do go ahead and catch up, don't mind me."

In fairness Amy made a gallant effort to hold Flash's attention, but she really couldn't compete. He had wanted to hold Kelly in his arms for so long and now, here she sat, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have his arms around her. Her head rested in his chest, only looking up to occasionally peck his jaw, for the rest of the time she simply sat, allowing the light to bounce off the ring, sending rainbows of light across the room. Flash could barely pay Amy enough attention to formulate replies, how could he? Here he was, with Kelly in _his_ lap, with _his_ arms wrapped around her, wearing ridiculously little besides _his_ family ring! Amy never really stood a chance.

*

"And do you know what the worst bit is?" lamented Kelly later that night, while on the phone to Andrea.

Everyone had retired to their rooms within the hotel complex and Kelly could hear Flash tossing and turning on the suite's sofa in the next room. Kelly had offered to sleep there herself as Flash was taller but he had simply given her an incredulous look and rolled his eyes.

"That little bitch was looking down her nose at me the whole time! I mean, I'm the one wearing the ring so why does she think she has some kind of twisted ownership on Flash?"

Over at St. Trinian's Andrea rolled her eyes in amusement; Kelly had been turning Flash down for almost a year but her true feelings for him were fast becoming apparent. "Kelly, you need to snap out of it! What's happened to our undefeatable head girl? You have had Flash wrapped around your little finger for longer than anyone can remember, there's no way that you're going to lose him to this tart. How many times has he asked you out and been turned down? But he never gives up, because he's crazy about you. Everyone knows that you're meant to be together; it doesn't matter if he's a small scale spiv or some rich business tycoon. Plus you have one advantage that no one else can possibly have."

"What's that?" asked Kelly, already annoyed with herself for behaving so ridiculously before but glad that Andrea had been able to say exactly the right things to snap her out of it.

"The ring," drawled Andrea, "Have you not seen his face light up every time he sees you wearing it? You wearing that ring are all his dreams come true."

The girls spent a few more minutes chatting about Kelly's game plan for tomorrow before they ended the call, by which point they were sure that it would make St. Trinian's girls everywhere proud.


	4. Chapter 4

_**AN: For some reason FF has deleted my page breaks... So sorry about that. xx**_

Camilla Fritton clicked her tongue loudly against the roof of her mouth, looking around the assembled group. It was the morning of the second day and breakfast had just opened. In order to make guest feel comfortable, all dress codes had been dropped and people were invited to attend breakfast in their pyjamas. _So why in the world did this place still look like a beauty pageant? Or rather, like the world's most affluent sleepover._ Camilla snorted into her tea at visions of her girls' sleepovers; they were certainly nothing like the scene before her.

Flash and Kelly had not yet arrived and Camilla was about to resign herself to boredom until they did, when another source of amusement stumbled into the room. He was wearing an attire similar to what many had been wearing to previous night, except this suit looked as though it has been slept in one too many times to merit the name. Many of the other guests looked up at his loud entrance to the room, but had quickly looked away again, not bothering to conceal the disgust which they regarded the young man with.

This latest arrival viewed the masses with an equal amount of contempt before mockingly straightening his tie and dusting his shoulders; stalking into the room with his nose in the air. Some guests looked appalled at this obvious mimicry of them but most simply ignored his antics. Camilla looked from the gentleman to a rather large lady whose jaw was opening and closing silently and couldn't stop a loud chuckle from escaping.

Most people polity ignored her outburst but the man's eyes shot up and instantly spotted her, taking in her neon pink dressing gown and extravagant curlers (it did say they could wear their night clothes) and began to saunter over. There was nothing he loved more than winding the newcomers up.

"Enchanté Mademoiselle," he said, sweeping into a low bow and placing a kiss on the back of her hand, "Sir Tony, at your service, I don't believe I've seen you here before."

The rest of the guests looked on in horror, obviously astounded that this ruffian would address any of them (even if it was just the new eccentric lady). However their shock became even more pronounce when Camilla chuckled again and gestured for Tony to take a seat at her table; not even eccentricity could excuse her from fraternizing with the young ruffian. Camilla didn't care; he reminded her of Flash.

Tony looked surprised at this as well but sat down never the less. "You know," he muttered, "You won't make many friends here if you associate with me."

Camilla gave him the look "Nonsense," she scolded, "You seem far more interesting than these over dresses snooty cows here."

Tony stared at her as though she had grown an extra head momentarily before grinning broadly and seizing her hand, shaking it enthusiastically, "You are officially my new favourite person!" he exclaimed gleefully.

Chuckling quietly, Tony leant back in his chair and quickly surveyed the room, with had gone back to studiously ignoring the pair of them. "So what's got these old turkeys so excited, they haven't been this full of gossip since they first met me?"

Camilla looked around and realised that the room was indeed alive with more gossip than the chav's corner. A proud smile spread across her face as she realised it was all about Flash and Kelly.

Just as Camilla was about to fill the late arriving Sir Tony in on the events that the hall was buzzing with, the doors of the breakfast room burst open again. Tony let out a low whistle as Kelly strode into the room. She had apparently received the memo informing all that guests were invited to wear their nightclothes as she was wearing her strappy top and short shorts. Her feet were encased in their usual heels (indeed Camilla doubted she owned anything else) and the combination of these and the shorts made her legs look as though they went on forever.

"Morning Miss," Kelly greeted Camilla as she threw herself down between her and Sir Tony, completely ignoring the many stares and glares she was receiving from the rest of the room.

"Morning Kelly," Camilla replied warmly, "close your mouth Tony, you look like a gold fish."

Kelly gave the young man who had finally succeeded inclosing his mouth a once over, lips curling upwards slightly before she returned her attention to Camilla, "Do you think they'd care if I take breakfast upstairs for me and Harry?"

Camilla laughed again, "Do you care if they care?"

Kelly pretended to ponder the question before laughing and standing up again.

"By the way, girly," Camilla smiled proudly, "everyone is buzzing with gossip about you and Flash, well done."

Kelly's trademark smirk spread across her face as she pressed something into Camilla's hand, "They haven't seen anything yet."

With that she strode away to prepare for whatever it was that Flash had planned for the day.

"What did she give you?" Tony asked, slightly stupidly, as he hadn't quite recovered from the shock of seeing Kelly for the first time.

Camilla eyed the now dopey man and tutted impatiently, _why did her Head girl have this effect on everybody? _"Don't even think about it," she advised, "Kelly is very much taken. She's here with Harry Hacket and that's not likely to change," Camilla patted his hand sympathetically.

This seemed to snap Tony out of it, "Harry's here? Ha! Excellent!"

Camilla raised an eyes brow in confusion so Tony hurried on to explain, "Harry's my best mate but the lucky git gets out of this every year, it will be nice to have someone to suffer with for once."

Camilla laughed at this, if Tony was friends with Harry he could prove a useful ally, once he leant to function around Kelly that was.

"So what did she give you?" Tony pressed, motioning to what Camilla held in her hand.

She grinned a slightly predatorily grin, "A ticket for tonight's polka game."

"But only the men are invited to that."

"The men, plus me and Kelly," corrected Camilla, _this would be fun._

"Kelly?" Flash walked through the room, buttoning his shirt as he went, "Kelly have you seen my bow-tie? I left it on the coffee table but now it's not there."

Kelly looked up from her seat on the sofa, pausing to enjoy the view before Flash finished buttoning his shirt up, "It's right here," she smiled, dangling the strip of material between two fingers.

"Are you going to give it back?" asked Flash, jokingly but still not sure of the answer.

Kelly pretended to ponder this, "Perhaps,"

Flash rolled his eyes and picked up his jacket, slinging over his shoulder and grabbing the tickets for the polka game, "This is pretty much the highlight of the week, you and Milla will be the first woman ever to get in, it's gunna turn a few heads."

Kelly stood up, slowly smoothing down the little black dress she was wearing and adjusting the blood red belt, "Flash, when have we ever not turned heads?"

Flash gapped at her momentarily as she walked ahead of him to the door before shaking his head to snap himself out of it and hurrying after her.

Sir Tony had to admit, in all the years which he had been attending these types of social functions, he had never met anyone as amusing as Miss Camilla Fritton. He had cleaned himself up significantly from his entrance that morning but was still receiving withering looks from the other guests as his guffawing laughter interrupted their polite tête-à-tête.

"Oh that's brilliant!" he declared, wiping away a tear of mirth, "This school of yours sounds fantastic, it's no wonder Harry spends so much time there."

Camilla smiled happily at this but her smile grew further still when she looked round at the 'ping' of the lift doors opening, "While that may be true, Sir Tony. I don't think that's why Harry sticks around."

Tony turned to see what Camilla was smiling at and couldn't help his face splitting into a similar grin. As the lift doors opened he could see his best mate, Harry, laughing happily as the girl who he'd met at breakfast finished tying the bow-tie around his neck, occasionally swatting his hands away when he tried to help.

Finally happy with her handy work she stretched up and kissed him on the check before he put an arm around her shoulders and they wandered into the crowd.

"Hey! Harry! Over here mate!" Tony exclaimed, waving his arms wildly to catch his attention.

"Tony!" yelled Harry, quickly extracting himself and Kelly from the group of people trying to talk to them and heading over, "Mate it's been forever!"

Tony exaggerated rolling his eyes, "And whose fault is that? Honestly, all this time you've been fobbing me off with stories of having to work and now I find out you've been hanging out at this girls school, I ask you, how is hanging out at a girl's school work?"

Flash laughed, thumping him friend on the back, "That's where I've been working you idiot. Plus Dad's not really up to managing everything anymore so I've had to look after most of that."

Tony suddenly felt like a complete idiot, "Oh man, sorry Harry, I'd forgotten, how's your Dad doing."

Harry shrugged awkwardly, "He's alright, and he's getting better."

Camilla coughed, snapping the two men out of it, "You two will have to catch up later, I've filled Tony in on what is really going on and he's going to help you two keep your cover and help us cause a bit of mischief."

Tony grinned, "And it's a good job she did, there's no way I would have believed that you could get a girl like Kelly in reality! Bet you're thrilled to have the excuse to be around her."

Flash grinned at this but Kelly felt him stiffen slightly next to her, resting a hand on his chest she turned to Tony with an eyebrow raised, "And how do you know it wasn't me looking for the excuse?"

Camilla smiled contentedly at Kelly comment and chuckled throatily, "Right, well, there better be a bar at this polka game, I need a sherry."


	5. Chapter 5

It was closer to being early than late when Kelly finally climbed into bed, flicking her phone open as she did so. There was a missed call from Andrea so she quickly sent her a text to say that she would let her know what had happened in the morning. Switching her phone off so that Andrea couldn't insist on hearing the details then she sighed deeply and fell back against her pillows a contented smile playing on her lips as she recalled the night's events.

_The reaction to their arrival had been even better than expected. The clerk on the door had gone varying shades of red and eventually purple as he waged an internal battle; not knowing whether it would be worse to break tradition and allow her and Miss Fritton into the traditionally all male event or to try to challenge Harry and not let them in. The decision was made for him when Flash, bored of waiting, had simply pressed the tickets into his hand and walked past him. Ignoring the stammered objections of the doorman and other guests Flash made short work of the crowd emerging by the bar, Tony laughing hysterically all the while._

"_Honestly Tony," he chuckled, "There is no way you can already be drunk."_

_Tony laughed again, "Harry my friend; it is never too early to be drunk."_

_Kelly smiled softly as she watched the two friends joking around; she was getting to see so many different sides to Flash this week and despite his dislike of the social circle, he was much more at ease than she would have ever believed Flash could be when surrounded by all these money grabbers who were out to snatch a piece of his fortune. _

"_Tony, you do realise that you'll be playing poker tonight?" she heard Flash mutter incredulously while Tony nodded enthusiastically._

"_Come on Harry, it would be brilliant!" Tony's exclaimed._

_Rolling his eyes, Harry hit his best mate lightly round the head, "Tony, do you know why you always loose at poker? It's because you always insist on doing shots before hand – you daft plank."_

_Tony made a great show of pouting and rubbing his head but couldn't help grin, "That might explain a few things." He admitted happily, downing his drink and strutting over to the closest table, "Come on Harry, let's see who can lose the most money."_

"_No, Tony," laughed Harry, "That's how you play, the rest of us win money."_

_Still laughing, Flash turned to Kelly, "What you say, Kell? You up for a few hands?"_

_A slow smirk spread across Kelly's lips and she was not disappointed by Flash's reaction as he was rendered incapable of forming an intelligent sentence, "Always." She replied spotting a table with two vacant seats and leading Flash over._

In the back of her mind, Kelly registered the sound of a phone ringing in the next room, then Flash as he spoke quietly with who ever had called.

_Kelly had played cards with Flash in the past and was unsurprised when he was much better than the others on their table, he however, seemed to enjoy watching Kelly beat them more than doing it himself. Something Kelly was more than happy to indulge him in; the men's reactions were priceless and Kelly often found her fighting a smirk. _

_The gentleman sitting opposite Flash threw down his cards in annoyance as Kelly presented her winning hand, "Bloody hell," he growled, the man was red-faced, possessed little neck and apparently did not like losing, "You sure she didn't win the ring off you at cards."_

_Flash stiffened instantly, fixing the man with a murderous glare, the other players at the table shifted uncomfortably and Kelly slowly raised her eyes._

"_I'm positive," Flash growled, his eyes boring holes into the man. _

_The others at the table winced and one hurried to smooth things over, "I'm sure he was just joking, no harm meant."_

_Catching slight of Flash's expression, Kelly quickly placed a hand on his arm; worried that he would lose his temper with the man. However, her concern proved unwarranted when a rather unwelcome distraction bustled over._

"_Mr Hacket! It's a delight to see you again! An absolute delight! And Miss Jones too, how lovely," Kyle Brittmore was all smiles as he seized Flash's hand and shook it furiously, forcing him to stand up to greet him or else have his chair over turned. _

"_Brittmore," grunted Flash, doing an admirable job of concealing his distaste for the man, "It was good of you to invite us."_

_A smarmy grin spread across the man's face, clearly overjoyed that his invitation had been recognised, "Not at all, the pleasure was all mine and you flatter me greatly by attending."_

_Kelly could barely suppress a grin at Flash's poorly hidden grimace at Brittmore's assumption that there being there was a compliment to him, fortunately, no one else seemed to notice._

"_Although, I was hoping you might do me a small favour," Brittmore, now grinning at Flash as though they were lifelong friends in on a private joke, "You see, I have a few of my clients here this week, and I thought perhaps you could have a talk with them, then, if you were interested..."_

_It was all Flash could do to stop himself from groaning at this, _Here we go again.

"_My family are not currently investing in any ventures," Replied Flash in a tone which clearly spelt finality. _

"_Oh I understand; I understand completely. However these are very promising business opportunities, or they will be once you get involved, I'm sure this isn't something you would want to miss out on," Brittmore ploughed on, ignorant of Flash's dislike of him._

_The persistent prattle flowing forth from Brittmore's mouth was starting to draw attention from the other patrons, and on hearing the topic in discussion, others took it as a signal that now would be a good time to present their own cases to Harry. Up until that point, Kelly had thought that Harry's complaints of being hounded by other business men was an exaggeration, however she quickly found out that was not the case. Just under half of the men present, suddenly seemed to have something to say to Harry. _

_Swearing softly under his breath, he caught Kelly around the waist and pulling her into his side, began to push their way through the crowd. Although the men's egos prevented them from actually following Harry around many stood in his way in an attempt to force him into conversation but he simply walked around them with a withering glare. _

"_Wait, what about Miss Fritton?" the thought hadn't occurred to Kelly until the pair had left the confines of the poker room._

_Harry glanced sideways at Kelly, smiling in amusement, "She left about an hour ago, didn't you notice?"_

_She hadn't. _I was too engrossed in H... the poker game, defiantly the poker game.

"_And Tony?" she quickly added._

_Harry just shrugged, "He'll play till he's out of anything worth betting."_

_The pair wandered into the virtually deserted bar, sitting at the opposite end of the bar to the only other patron who was engrossed in his paper and a whiskey. _

_Harry sighed as he sat down, dragging a hand across his face._

"_I'm sorry I made you come," Kelly spoke softly, "I didn't realise how bad it was for you here."  
He quickly shook his head, "It isn't, it's not bad at all."_

_Raising one eyebrow, Kelly gave him a disbelieving look, "Harry, I know you, there's no way you're comfortable with them hounding you like that."_

_Harry shot her his best grin, "True, but I can think of other points which are rather more than making up for that." He lent ever so slightly closer, "In fact..."  
_

Kelly was started from her recollections by the sound of Harry's raised voice in the next room. Quickly slipping from her bed she moved silently into the lounge where he was pacing up and down, his face a strange mix of anger and distress as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone speak.

Finally the pacing stopped and he sank down onto the sofa, his voice was hoarse when he spoke, "I understand, I'll be right there."


End file.
